English
wikipedia
Etymology
Coined by w:William Tyndale|Tyndale from scape + goat, translating Hebrew HEchar|ע���� (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26). First attested 1530.
Pronunciation
(Canada) IPA|/�skeɪp�go�t/
(UK) IPA|/�skeɪpg��t/
audio|en-us-scapegoat.ogg|Audio (US)
Noun
en-noun
- In the Mosaic Day of Atonement ritual, a goat symbolically imbued with the sins of the people, and sent out alive into the wilderness while another was sacrificed.
#*1646: alluding herein unto the heart of man and the precious bloud of our Saviour, who was typified by the Goat that was slain, and the scape-Goat in the Wilderness � Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Book II, ch 5
- Someone punished for the error or errors of someone else.
#:He is making me a scapegoat.
#*1834: Thomas Babington Macaulay, "William Pitt, Earl of Chatham" http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2332
#*:The new Secretary of State had been long sick of the perfidy and levity of the First Lord of the Treasury, and began to fear that he might be made a scapegoat to save the old intriguer who, imbecile as he seemed, never wanted dexterity where danger was to be avoided.
Translations
trans-top|someone punished for someone else's error(s)
Chinese: t|cmn|�罪�|scHani|xsMandarin (tì zùi yáng)
Dutch: t|nl|zondebok|m
French: t|fr|bouc émissaire|m
German: t+|de|Sündenbock|m
Greek: t|el|α�οδιο�ομ�αίο� ��άγο�|m|scGrek (apodiopompeos tragos), t|el|εξιλα��ή�ιο θ�μα|n|scGrek (eksilastirio thima)
trreq|Hebrew
Icelandic: t-|is|blóraböggull|m
Indonesian: t|id|kambing hitam|xs=Indonesian
Italian: t-|it|capro espiatorio
trans-mid
Lithuanian: t|lt|atpirkimo ožys|m|xs=Lithuanian
Polish: t|pl|kozio� ofiarny|m
Russian: t+|ru|коз�л о�п��ени�|m|sc=Cyrl (kozjól otpuš�énija)
Spanish: t+|es|cabeza de turco|f, t-|es|chivo expiatorio|m
Swedish: t-|sv|syndabock
Turkish: t|tr|günah keçisi
trans-bottom
Synonyms
whipping boy
fall guy
patsy
Verb
en-verb
- transitive To punish someone for the error or errors of someone else; to make a scapegoat of.
#::Don't scapegoat me for your mistake.
#*1950: Rachel Davis DuBois?, Neighbors in Action: A Manual for Local Leaders in Intergroup Relations, p37
#*:People tend to fear and then to scapegoat ... groups which seem to them to be fundamentally different from their own.
#*1975: Richard M. Harris, Adam Kendon, Mary Ritchie Key, Organization of Behavior in Face-to-face Interaction, p66
#*:They had been used for centuries to justify or rationalize the behavior of that status and conversely to scapegoat and blame some other category of people.
#*1992: George H.W. Bush, State of the Union Address http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5047
#*:And I want to add, as we make these changes, we work together to improve this system, that our intention is not scapegoating and finger-pointing.
#*2004: Yvonne M. Agazarian, Systems-Centered Therapy for Groups, p208
#*:Then either the world or others or the self becomes the target for the human tendency to scapegoat.
Translations
German: zum Sündenbock machen
French : bouc émissaire
mid
See also
escape
goat
scape
stool pigeon, stoolie
fa:scapegoat
fr:scapegoat
io:scapegoat
id:scapegoat
it:scapegoat
pl:scapegoat
pt:scapegoat
ru:scapegoat
fi:scapegoat
vi:scapegoat
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